Reuse / Rebuild

Just because a space has been abandoned does not mean it is no longer useful. Entrepreneurs, artists, city officials, activists and neighbors, with the right amount of ambition and innovation, can take vacant spaces and turn them into opportunities. By transforming what we already have into sustainable properties, we revitalize neighborhoods and stimulate local economies.

While demolition will make up the lion's share of the city's blight elimination efforts, Mayor Duggan and the Detroit Blight Authority are pushing to ensure that deconstruction also plays a role. Area training centers hope to prepare students for careers in both demolition and deconstruction.

Detroit has 40,000 vacant homes on the path to demolition. Can they be transformed from liabilities into assets through deconstruction? Local businesses' demand for reclaimed materials suggests they can.

Hegemann, a Berlin entrepreneur who has played an important role during over two decades of revitalization and reinvention in that city, will be back in Detroit on Nov. 29 to talk about how strategies from Berlin can be used to catalyze growth in Detroit's creative economy.